Those Occasional In-Shop Miracles

[the elephant]

Don't you love it when you screw up in reverse?

Time for a little story. So sit down, strap in, and shut up. If you don't want a little story then go away.



This last long stretch of work to my Holton saw me making one more big parts order from Miraphone, and I was planning on re-tubing my Kurath next. To save on shipping I dropped a lot of coin on one large order. When it arrived I inventoried it and put everything away. Done.

Months later I was working on my Kurath and found that I must have mismeasured because I ended up being short one half-meter "stick" of a specific tube size.



This ended up being a good thing, as it forced me to reevaluate what I felt the tuba needed, and I think what I ended up doing is better, acoustically. (Maybe not better for others, but I like it a lot, and that's all that counts.) So that worked out pretty great for me.

Then I decided to get into this more deeply. I discovered my weirdly responding 5th valve was likely an issue because it leaks like a sieve, and that a new one would make me much happier. So I put together another order to the nice folks at Miraphone, intending to send it out today now that the holiday is over. Yesterday, while digging around in one of my big, red automotive tool chests, I FOUND THE FREAKING TUBE.



So, in effect, I altered my plans for the Kurath, saving this tube for what I now have in store. Except that I was not smart enough to do that without the assistance of my own stupidity.

Whatever. I had decided to not cut two tubes in half to fit them into my "Big Box 'O Tubes" because I needed more than half of each for something but did not know exactly how long these had to be. I no longer have a supply of full half-meter or meter tubes, so I stuck them in a drawer in the big red, rolling toolbox…

… so I wouldn't forget where I had put it.

Right.

Not only did I forget where these tubes were, but I also forgot that they even existed.

This mistake ended up making my F tuba better and also saved me $36 plus a portion of the international shipping charges because a MUCH smaller box can be used if I don't need one that can adequately protect a half-meter length of thin-walled tubing.

Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you. And sometimes you and the bear sit down and have a cold one together.



What "lucky mistakes" have you made in the past?

[bloke]

I’m trying to stay on topic. This doesn’t quite fit, but it’s related:

There is a Chinese made F-attachment trombone here, whereby the upper inside slide tube just fell off. I see no damage. I unsoldered the cork barrel and was astonished to see the marginal way that the tube had been attached to the instrument, and the bizarre manufacturing tack they had pursued. This is a Chinese brand that has been gaining some level of respect and distribution. I can’t really see any way to remedy this, other than to pray that a Vincent Bach tube is the same diameter, and replace (basically) half of the inside playing slide assembly with Bach Stradivarius parts.
——————
That having been said, the way this thing was put together is so stupid and so marginal, that I need to back off and look at it for at least a couple more days - to see whether I’m missing something, here. (????)

… so - as you see - my little unfinished story is related to your topic, but not exactly the same type of story.
… and please: no brand-name guessing games. I try to stay smiley-faced with everyone.